The Place Where They First Met
by KaoruKamiya307
Summary: Yahiko takes Tsubame out to celebrate their one year dating anniversary and everything's a surprise for Tsubame all planned by Yahiko! Lots of fluff! YahikoTsubame.


A/N : Hello readers! Welcome to my story! This is a story that is apart of one of my other stories entitled, "A Child's Revenge." I had always thought the part where Yahiko and Tsubame celebrate their anniversary could also make a good stand alone one-shot so since I had written it a few years back I had been meaning to make it into one. And I finally did it!

So, if you notice that this seems familiar at all and have read my other story "A Child's Revenge" (ACR), then chances are you have read parts of it before. I went through the events leading up to the date, deleting the parts unrelated to the date itself and any mention of the plot dealing with ACR. Then during the date I took out the ACR plot so it was strictly just their date and made a few edits here and there. Nothing too terribly different though besides making it into a standalone story.

So to clear things up: This is a tiny, short segment featured in the much longer ACR that has been turned and edited into a standalone story. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE READ ACR TO ENJOY THIS! That is why it's now a standalone story.

However, feel free to check out ACR too if you enjoy this! It hasn't been finished yet but I would love it if you would give it a read and review! It would make me very happy and perhaps the plot bunnies would get going in my head! Just go to my profile to find the link and summary!

(And to anybody that has been reading it, I want to apologize for not updating it in a while. I promise I haven't abandoned it. Just the world got really crazy at the same time the plot went down a black hole to hibernate for a while, which is not a good combination. I hope to update a little this summer! I'm really sorry!)

Disclaimer: (Hides a swirly-eyed Rurouni behind back) I do not own the series Rurouni Kenshin or its characters. (Watsuki-san pops up and glares expectantly) Yes, even Kenshin! (sighs, as authoress hands over the Rurouni)

Summary: Yahiko takes Tsubame out to celebrate their one year dating anniversary and everything's a surprise for Tsubame all planned by Yahiko! Lots of fluff! YahikoTsubame.

Rating: K+ for 9 and up just to be safe. Just a cute little fluffy fic!

Whoo! I should stop talking and let you guys read the story! Enjoy!

The Place Where They First Met

"YA-HI-KO!" the infuriated raccoon that was Kaoru screamed.

The aforementioned young boy smirked as he continued the argument, "You heard me ugly! I am tired of your training!"

Kaoru grew a bit pink in the face as she picked up her bokken. "You are a freeloader in my dojo and you will do what I say!"

"I am tired of all the chores!" the boy complained.

"Yahiko, you are on your last straw!"

"AND I'M TIRED OF YOUR FOOD!"

"THAT'S IT! YOU DON'T APPRECIATE ANYTHING I DO FOR YOU. DO YOU?" Kaoru then promptly hit him several times with the bokken. After she was satisfied, she calmly gritted through her teeth. "You are grounded until further notice!"

"But, what about…" he asked dizzily with a head full of painful bumps.

"Including going out with Tsubame!"

Yahiko groaned. "But today's our one year anniversary."

Karou turned around and walked away. "Hmph. You should have thought about that you ungrateful LITTLE brat!"

As she slammed the door he cried out, "I AM NOT LITTLE!"

Kaoru stormed away and went to make dinner. As she chopped away on the poor defenseless vegetables, Kenshin walked in.

"Kaoru-Dono?" he said as he braced himself, as if afraid that she would explode on him too.

"YES?" she said through a forced smile.

He winced. "I couldn't help but overhear your argument, that I couldn't. Do you not think you were a little bit harsh on him?"

Kaoru glared. She looked awful menacing with that knife.

At this he said quickly with a smile, "I mean for tonight! He has been planning this for months and it would be awfully disappointing for Tsubame, that it would."

Kaoru sighed. She couldn't resist Kenshin's smile. Her tone softened as she pronounced, "I guess your right. Can you go tell him that it is okay for tonight for me but," her voice changed to a stern tone as she raised her knife, "only for tonight, then he is grounded."

"I will. Thank you, Kaoru-Dono," he said with a warm smile and went to tell Yahiko the news.

RKRKRKRKRKRK

It was a very busy day at the Akabeko. In fact, it was so busy that Tsubame was feeling guilty about taking time off tonight for her year anniversary date. Maybe she should tell Yahiko that they could do it tomorrow or something…

"Tsubame! I need a refill!" a man called.

"Can I get some service?" an annoyed woman cried out.

"I need to order my food quickly!" another customer called out to Tsubame.

"OH! I'm sorry, yes; I believe you were drinking tea? And I will send your waitress for you! And I will take your order as soon as I come back with this man's tea," a harassed-looking Tsubame said as she rushed to take care of her duties.

And so, the day passed by. She had planned to talk to Tae-san about staying tonight, but every time she saw her, she was either as harassed-looking as she was, or too busy to be bothered. She awaited her chance for when Tae-san would tell her it was time for her to get ready for her date. Yes, that would be the time when she would tell her.

RKRKRKRKRKRK

Finally, the time came.

"Tsubame! What are you still doing working? It is nearly time for Yahiko to come pick you up!"

"Well, about that…" she spit out only to trip on her feet as her shoe strap broke from that day's work that it just couldn't put up with. "OH NO! Now what am I going to wear? This is my only pair."

"Tsubame, I've been telling you to get new shoes for weeks. I should have offered you an advance so you could afford to do so. It's too late now though," she reprimanded kindly. "You can borrow my extra pair in the back."

"Thanks, Tae-san! But I want…"

"Tae-san! We've got a spill on table one! We need some assistance!" a fellow waitress called from the front.

Tsubame made a move to grab some cleaning supplies when Tae-san grabbed her hand and exclaimed, "Don't be silly, dear. Go! He'll be here any minute!" And with that, she rushed to go clean the mess.

"But…" Tsubame cried out desperately as she disappeared behind the chaos that was the Akabeko restaurant. She sighed resignedly. She'd only be more trouble if she tried to ask to stay. She then went to go get ready in excitement. She had no idea where Yahiko was taking her and was very anxious to find out!

RKRKRKRKRKRK

Yahiko stepped out of the dojo as quickly as he could, carrying a bundle in his hand. He couldn't believe his luck! He knew that Kenshin must have had something to do with this. How else could she have calmed down enough to change her mind so suddenly?

He sighed in relief. The weather was perfect; not too cold and not too hot. It had been a chilly November month the past couple of weeks complete with little snow flurries. He was hoping that the temperature would be a bearable because of what he had in store for Tsubame. He was surprised that it wasn't snowing. The weather was looking like it would all week.

As he walked the rest of the way, he checked over his plans and before he knew it, he was right in front of the busy Akabeko. He took a deep breath and went inside.

RKRKRKRKRKRK

Yahiko was surprised to find the Akabeko in such a state. It was full of people. It took awhile before he could finally spot Tae-san among the crowd. He called out to her and when he got her attention he heard her cry out, "Tsubame, he's here!"

When he heard this he tumbled against the wall so that he was out of the way. Minutes later, he jumped when a hand touched his shoulder. He started to say, "Oh! Tsubame, I'm sor…" but he couldn't finish his sentence.

Tsubame was beautiful. She wore a pale blue kimono decorated with dark purple carnations and a stunningly white obi. Her brown hair was pulled into an elegantly tight bun with rivulets cascading her features on her face. Light makeup was applied to her face which made her pretty, dark eyes pop. He noticed that she wasn't wearing her usual shoes.

He blushed as Tsubame asked, "Oh, did I dress up too much?"

At first he was confused by the question, and then he noticed that she seemed to be looking at what he was wearing. He looked down in horror as he realized that he was wearing his normal everyday clothes. _Darn it! I had been in such a hurry to get out of the dojo after the fight with Kaoru that I completely forgot to change! I am probably still sweaty from training with the ugly raccoon!_

Tsubame met his horrified expression with a confused one. _Did he forget to change? Or does he think that he didn't meet up to my expectations? That I wanted something more formal? But, that's not true! Or what if something happened that made him too distracted or too busy that he couldn't change? Is there something he's not telling me? Which is it?_

As the two continued to try to decide what to do, what would be an awkward silence except for the chaos happening around them commenced.

Yahiko did not know what to say in response. Tsubame did not know which of her ideas she should try. Both were flustered. Thankfully, a heroine came to save the day.

"What are you two still doing there?" Tae-san exclaimed.

"SORRY!" they cried out quickly in perfect unison as they scurried out the restaurant.

Tae-san giggled, shaking her head and whispered to herself, "Aww, young love."

RKRKRKRKRKRK

The two speed out of the restaurant, both grateful for Tae-san's interruption.

"So…Yahiko? Where are we going?" Tsubame asked in a prodding tone.

"Don't be silly, Tsubame! I will never tell!" he teased. "Come on, let's go," Yahiko exclaimed as he grabbed Tsubame by the hand and lead her through the ever-busy streets of Tokyo. It happened to be very crowded. As there was hardly any room to breathe, they bumped into a lot of people.

"Ugh! Watch where you are going!"

"Stupid kids! Out of my way!"

"People these days…"

They were met with these comments and many more as they faced the maze that was Tokyo. At each comment both would timidly reply, "I'm sorry!"

Yahiko couldn't believe this! As he stormed around the crowd, he looked at Tsubame every once in a while and noticed that she was becoming pale and her pretty bun was loosening from the abuse. _I would have thought that at this point the crowds would die down. We are on the outskirts now and it seems as if the crowd is growing! I hope we don't have a crowd there…_

It took a few more minutes, but finally the crowd died out. Yahiko and Tsubame stopped to take a breather when they got away from the chaos.

"Tsubame…are you…alright?" he breathed out.

"I'm…alright," she squeaked.

Yahiko's eyes grew soft as he saw that despite Tsubame's haggard appearance as a result of the battle with the crowd she still looked as beautiful as ever with her eyes, face, and…

"…Yahiko…Yahiko!" Tsubame exclaimed. "I said are you alright?"

"Oh! Sorry, Tsubame! I'm fine," he said this quickly and blushed as he took her by the hand and continued to lead her further outside of town.

Before Tsubame had time to wonder where on earth he was taking her, an old man came out of a house and greeted them, "Hello, my dears. You must be Tsubame. You are one lucky girl and…"

"Neji, is everything ready?" Yahiko interjected.

"Oh yes, sorry, I'll let you go. Good luck!" he winked at Yahiko as he went back inside.

"Yahiko, who was that?" Tsubame asked. "He was so nice."

"He helped me out a little…"

She was going to ask about what he meant by that but instead asked, "Yahiko, where are we?"

"You don't recognize it?" he asked as he led her around the house and she gasped.

Tsubame could not believe that she did not realize where she was being led to! It must have been the crowd that distracted her. Before her was the very same spot where they had met, complete with the boards tied on the tree that Yahiko was training with. Laid out next to the lake was a picnic blanket with a picnic basket.

Yahiko watched as Tsubame's eyes sparkled in excited surprise and felt his heart skip a beat as his face went hot. She smiled so wide that it almost killed him. Yahiko always loved it when she smiled.

"Yahiko! I…I…This…I…love it!" she spit out excitedly and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then, she giggled as she rushed over to the picnic blanket. "What's in the basket?"

"Not yet! There is something else that I wanted to do first," he smiled in relief that it was going well despite the rocky start.

"What is it?" Tsubame looked eagerly up at Yahiko and then looked at the package that had been in his hand. She had been too flustered to notice it before. "Oh no! I forgot my present!" she gasped.

"That's okay," he laughed. She looked so cute when she was panicky.

"No, oh, I feel so bad. You did all this for me and I couldn't even remember your present…"

Yahiko joined Tsubame on the blanket, took her hands in his own, and smiled a smile that took her breath away. "What's done is done; besides, you can just give it to me when I walk you home, okay?"

"Uh…uh…" was all she could manage to bring out as she blushed, numb with how close he was.

Yahiko took a deep breath as he released her hands. _Ok, here it goes._ He handed her the package. "Go ahead, open it."

Tsubame guilty opened the package to reveal a new pair of shoes. When she looked closer she noticed that the same hair ribbon that she had used to repair his broken shoes when they met was what tied the shoes together. The straps were also the same color. Tears started to appear at the corners of her eyes.

"Just like this is the place where we first met, I also wanted to thank you for helping me repair my shoes. The first thing we did together. I have kept that hair ribbon you used for this entire year and thought that I should return it to you along with a new pair of shoes. I had noticed that Tae-san kept on telling you to get new shoes and how your shoes looked like they were bound to break soon. I see that I was just in time…" he gestured to the borrowed shoes. Then, he noticed the tears in her eyes. "Whoa! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset, is it the color of the strands? What is…?"

Yahiko didn't have time to finish his sentence before Tsubame threw herself into his arms. "Thank you so much Yahiko! This means the world to me!" Her shoulders started to shake as she tried to keep herself from sobbing.

Yahiko held her in his arms for a while and then pulled her up to face him. He wiped her tears from her face and smiled at her as he said, "I am glad you like them."

The two looked into each other's eyes, not caring that they were but an inch away from each other's faces. After what seemed like a second, their lips touched for a moment that seemed to last forever. The two blushed a bright scarlet as Yahiko said reluctantly, "We should eat before the food gets cold."

"Yeah!" she perked up at the mention of food. It was so busy today that she didn't have time to take her lunch break and it soon showed as her stomach growled. She giggled in embarrassment.

Yahiko looked at her fondly and said, "I hope this is too your liking. I made this myself!"

"Really? What is it?" Tsubame gasped in excitement. That old man was right, she was a lucky girl. No, the luckiest girl in the world!

"Well, it is not too special," he said modestly. "I made some rice, sushi, and some ohagi."

"OHAGI!" she exclaimed in excitement. Ohagi was her favorite.

Yahiko winced. He knew that she was going to react this way, but he still wasn't prepared. He brought out the food and nervously served it to her. "Now…don't expect it to be the better than Megumi's cooking. She had to teach me how to make it and I had to try several times before I got it right…"

"It's delicious!" she cried out. "Thanks so much!

Yahiko sighed in relief and picked up his own food. He was glad Tsubame loved his surprise. The two ate in silence as the sun was going down in the distance, enjoying each other's company. This place would always be their special spot, a place they both hoped to make many more memories in, and their relationship will always be thanks to this place, the place where they first met.

End

What did you guys think? Please let me know! R&R.

I was thinking that I might do a follow up someday with them walking home and Tsubame giving Yahiko his present. Would anybody be interested? I would have to get some updates done with ACR first but someday I would like to add another chapter but for now it will be complete!

So if you are interested in more, please story alert this so if I do decide to add a chapter you will know!

Thanks so much and have a great day!

KaoruKamiya307


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